Maybe it was the sight of Sengled users literally left in the dark by their useless Wi-Fi bulbs, maybe it was another price hike, or just an overall sense that my smart devices weren't truly under my control. Whatever the reason, I'd developed a growing desire to build a smart home setup that wasn't a hostage to the cloud. Specifically, I'm talking about a locally hosted smart home setup, and I'm currently in the process of building one. And while I'm a smart home expert thanks to my six years' experience here at TechHive, I'm quickly realizing how much I still don't know as I tackle the steep learning curve of a DIY smart home. This isn't a step-by-step guide of how to build your own smart home system--that might come later--but more of a journal about where I am in my self-hosted smart home journey, where I started, and what I'm hoping to achieve.

Thanksgiving is behind us, and the holiday shopping season is now officially in full swing. If you didn't manage to find gifts for everyone on your list during Black Friday, don't fret. We're here to help make your gift-giving decisions easier with a list of excellent, and affordable, tech products that can please an array of friends and family members. All of our recommended gifts under $50 have been thoroughly tested (by our expert reviewers at PCWorld and sister publication TechHive) and received at least a 4 out of 5 verdict. What's more, while all of these products have an MSRP under $50, many of them can be found on sale now for even less at the links we provided.

Black Friday is one of the best times of the year to buy a new streaming device for your TV, with discounts available on Roku players, Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast, and more. Still, not all of these deals are worth the money, especially if your current streaming device is in good working order. Let's take a closer look: Roku has a few device deals going on Black Friday, some better than others. Most folks should avoid the Roku SE, a $20 streaming device that will be available only in Walmart brick-and-mortar stores. This device is nearly identical to the $30 Roku Express, with the same processing power and 1080p HD video support, but it has a white finish instead of black and different shortcut buttons.

An Amazon Echo with Alexa can infuse your home with information, entertainment, and smart hub capabilities, all controllable by your voice. The most feature-packed Echo usually costs a pretty penny, but Amazon's running a deal where if you buy two Echo Shows, it'll knock $150 off the total. Putting a pair in your cart should automatically apply the discount. We've tested every Echo released so far and the Echo Show is the best one. It offers everything a good smart speaker should: clear sound quality, voice control, and compatibility with other Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as TVs, cameras, thermostats, and lights.

Even if you don't have a home packed with smart devices, a smart speaker can still be a great way to play music and get information. So if you're looking for your first one or just want to add to an existing setup, Best Buy is offering its exclusive Insignia Voice smart Bluetooth speaker with built-in Google Assistant for just $36.99 right now. The Bluetooth speaker looks like a standard alarm clock but it comes with Google Assistant built in for hands-free control. Once connected to your smartphone, the speaker can access a variety of popular online streaming services as well as your own Google Play music library to listen to a wide range of music in multiple rooms at once. And if you have other smart devices in your home, you'll be able to control them as well just by asking Google Assistant to turn off the lights or turn up the thermostat.

Your message has been sent. There was an error emailing this page. With their rainbow of hues and myriad party tricks, color-tunable LEDs get all the press in the world of smart lighting. It's fun stuff, but the reality is that most of us will rarely find much of a need to turn all the lights in the house blue or red--unless it's time to celebrate our team winning the World Series. Even then, you'll probably want to turn them all back to white after the celebration.

Dish is getting serious about voice control. The company just announced that you can now use Amazon Echo's Alexa to control any generation of a Hopper DVR or a Wally satellite receiver. That's great news for Dish subscribers who missed out on the company's homegrown voice control remote released last July because they lacked a Hopper 3 DVR. We first heard about Dish's plans for Alexa during CES in January. Amazon's Echo is versatile and powerful; it's a terrific value all around.

Amazon's Alexa added a new productivity skill to its tool set after we inadvertently discovered in mid-February. Amazon's Echo is versatile and powerful; it's a terrific value all around. The smart assistant--embedded in the Echo line of smart speakers, as well as many other devices--now works with Office 365 business accounts, officially. That means anyone using Office 365 for work can now get their calendar updates from their smart speaker at home or in the office, as TechCrunch first reported. Office 365 isn't the first calendar to work with Amazon's Echo.

Amazon's Echo smart speakers and Google Home can already turn on your lights, adjust your thermostat, play music, and even unlock August Smart Locks. But the next skill coming to your smart home speaker could be the biggest yet: phone calls. Amazon's Echo is versatile and powerful; it's a terrific value all around. Both Amazon and Google are reportedly looking into adding the ability to send and receive phone calls over their respective smart speakers. The calling would probably use voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology similar to services like Skype, according to The Wall Street Journal. Before VoIP lands on smart speakers there are apparently some logistical concerns the companies want to address, such as what to do about 911 calls.

Plex is getting into the home automation game. The popular media management software just announced it now has an Alexa skill, as well as smart home features that turns off the lights or post a message in Slack based on an action you take with Plex. Amazon's Echo is versatile and powerful; it's a terrific value all around. The new Alexa skill is available now in the US and UK Alexa stores. Once you've activated the Plex skill, you can ask your Alexa to play content from your local media library on demand, such as a movie or a television episode from a specific season.